My guess is that if you asked his contemporaries what they thought about Jesus they would answer, “He’s the miracle worker from Galilee.” The Gospel writers are careful to point out that miraculous healing was only part of the ministry of Jesus. “He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.” However, heeding his call to repent required something of me. Jesus the healer did something for me. We all too often think of God in terms of what God can do for me — the genii in the lamp — and neglect heeding the Jesus’ teaching about love and the responsibilities we have as citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
